and sunny hostin and david gergen.nas to the key players in the new jersey traffic scandal and one very big name, the chairman of the agency

. >> lots to talk about tonight with david gergen, john king and gloria borger. david, do you believe it's possible, first of all, that christie did not know about this, that all these people around him -- >> i think it's possible, but in my experience going back to the nixon days, and i hesitate to make the comparison, is that sometimes the boss does not order something, but people who -- i don't know whether nixon ordered watergate, but i can guarantee you that the people who carried out watergate thought that's what he would have wanted. sometimes there's an environment where if you're on staff, things don't have to be said, you sort of know. >> so, even if he didn't know about it, the fact that everybody around him thought this was the kind of thing he would want says something about him and his leadership. >> i think there's bearish reporting on that subject, because it has all -- there's something about this that's so petty and so vindictive, and it feeds into this narrative that has been building up that he's a bully, and i think he's now, you know, he's on

and that depends on him and how he handles it. >> david gergen, thanks very much. gloria borger, john king as well. thanks. >>> let me know what you think about the story. do you believe the governor didn't know about what his staff was up to? >>> up next a very tough story no matter how you look at it. the question, does the state have the right to keep a brain-dead woman, this woman, alive against her wishes, against her family's wishes as well, if that woman is pregnant? she was pregnant. the hospital refuses to take her off life support as her family wishes, as her family says she would have wanted because she's pregnant. later, the video itself is troubling enough. a cursing toddler with grownups egging him on. get this, though. it was posted by local police organization. they say to educate the public. the question is, who's looking out for the child? details coming up. aflac! aflac! got 'em. ♪ yeah, he's clean, boss. now listen to me, duck. i have an associate that met with, uh, an unfortunate accident. while he's been incapacitated, somebody's been paying h

david gergen, appreciate it. jeff toobin, still more documents to go through. it's fascinating. >>> more now on the woman everyone wants to hear from, bridget ann kelly. until this week only new jersey political junkies knew her name. now it's rush hour to find out more about her. the answer tonight from erin mcpike. >> reporter: the divorced mother of four worked for chris christie since 2010 and was appointed his deputy chief of staff in april. about five months later she sent a career-ending message "time for some traffic problems in fort lee." the e-mail certainly seems incriminating. but those who know kelly say they doubt the dedicated staffer could have orchestrated this on her own. >> i think a lot of people find it hard to believe that she was acting as a rogue political operative conducting this operation regarding the bridge solely by herself. >> reporter: here in new jersey, bridget ann kelly has been a staple of republican politics for more than a decade. she began as a legislative aide for republican assemblyman david russo and eventually rose to

. >> dana, stay with us, because i want to bring in senior political analyst david gergen, also senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin. this committee acted very quickly in getting the subpoenas out. what does that tell you? >> it shows they want to mean business, but in particular, you send out subpoenas so that the recipients know that if they destroy documents at that point, it's obstruction of justice. you want those subpoenas in their hands, so their e-mails, their records, they freeze the situation so that nothing gets destroyed, and that's the hope, i suppose, of the prosecutors, that this way, they can do their best to make sure all the documents are staying in place. >> this is a legislative committee, though, not a court of law, so what kind of powers do they have? >> the most important difference between the u.s. attorney, paul fishman, and the investigating committees is the committees do not have the power to give immunity. so, if david wildstein continues to take the fifth, as i expect he will, they can't do anything about it. bridget kelly, i would be shocked if she did not

. >> lots to talk about tonight with senior political analyst david gergen, chief international correspondent john king and cnn legal analyst gloria borger. david, do you believe first of all that christie did not know about this? >> i think it's possible. but my experience going all the way back to the nixon days, i hesitate to make that comparison to his, that sometimes the boss does not order something but people who -- i don't know whether nixon ordered watergate but i can guarantee you that people who carried out watergate thought that's what he would have wanted. there's an environment in which you find yourself sometimes when you're on staff when things don't have to be said. you sort of know. >> even though he didn't know about it, the fact that everyone around him thought this is the kind of thing he would want says something about him about his leadership. >> i sure think it bears reporting on that very subject. because there's something about this that's so petty. and so vindictive. and it feeds into this narrative that has been building up sort of sub rosa that he's a bully. and i

i want to bring in senior political analyst david gergen, senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin. committee has acted very quickly in getting these subpoenas out. what does that tell you? >> it said they want to show they mean business. in particular you send out subpoenas so that the recipients know that if they destroy documents at that point it's obstruction of justice. you want those subpoena in their hands so their e-mails, their records, they freeze the situation so that nothing gets destroyed. and that's the hope, i suppose, of the prosecutors that this way they can do their best to make sure all the documents are in place. >> this is a legislative committee, though, not a court of law. so what kind of powers do they have? >> the most important difference between the u.s. attorney, paul fishman, and the investigating committees is the committees do not have the power to give immunity. so if david wildstein continues to take the fifth as i expect he will, they can't do anything about it. bridget kelly, i would be shocked if she did not take the fifth. so it's really going to

and sunny hostin and david gergen. new jersey lawmakers sending out 20 new subpoenas to the key players in the new jersey traffic scandal and one very big name, the chairman of the agency overseeing the george washington bridge. he's the state's former attorney general. dana bash is covering the story and joins us now. so what do you make of these subpoenas? >> reporter: it goes to the heart of chris christie's inner circle. first, names that people are going to be familiar with. bridget anne kelly, the governor's deputy chief of staff. and bill stepien, who is a top political aide. and there are other people who are -- fit that description. kevin o'dowd. he was the governor's chief of staff. he was just appointed to -- or named to be the next attorney general. then there's charlie mckenna, the governor's counsel. and david samson, who is the chairman of the port authority of new york and new jersey, but more importantly in this case, in addition to that, is very, very close confidant of chris christie and has been for

. >> i want to bring in david gergen, senior political analyst. hi, david. >> hello, carol. the spirit of working together, i don't know how much of the spirit of working together will be at the president's state of the union since he is going to issue this executive order right off the bat. >> well, you started off in the spirit of working together and then you laughed. i think that probably captures the spirit of a lot of americans. they are skeptical. they evhave heard a lot of thes things before. it was only a year ago that the president got inaugurated with high hopes and aspirations. he had a lofty set of goals he set in the last state of the union and very little happened. he enters this with a lot of weight on his shoulders to make this speech work tonight. he is perilously close to becoming a lame duck. >> this was senator mitch mcconnell. he said this a short time ago, the republican minority leader. let's listen. >> this is a pivotal moment in the obama presidency. we are now entering our sixth year with president obama at the helm of our economy. this is the sixt

joining us is david gergen. you are the perfect person to discuss this book.for administrations, democrat and republican, dating back to the nixon administration. what do you make of this book and the timing? >> i welcome the book. bob gates, i have had the opportunity to know him and privilege of working with him over the years. in my judgment he is one of the finest public servants of our time. i think what he tried to do was be very candid about what is going on in washington. it is not just the partisanship and polarization. it is a fact that the man who came in to salvage two wars found it difficult to get anything done of consquence in washington. he is not attacking individuals per se but rather to give us a sense of why it is so difficult for this country to be self-governing and to be effective here at home and overseas. >> i think everyone, journalists and anyone welcomes the candor to come out. but when you look at the unusual circumstances of this one he knows what he is doing. the president is still in office. he is a former cabinet secretary. it